Keep Running
by AmberLeaves
Summary: Don't look back. Just keep running.KxK.


Not mine.

* * *

Their breaths came in ragged gasps as they ran up the spiraling stairs. Faintly, she could hear the crescendo of buzzing behind them. A fleeting thought ran across her head, urging her to stop and let them catch her. She shook her head to clear those kinds of thoughts from her head. With a steeled expression on her face, she pushed her already aching legs to run faster. She would not let them take away their chance of escape. 

She glanced at him, slightly annoyed. Even though his breathing was slightly irreglular, he had hardly broken a sweat and his face showed not a trace of expression. But she knew he was angry, at himself and them, from the way his cold amber eyes shone and the tight grip of his hand on hers.

'Then there's me,' she thought to herself. The buzzing was getting louder with each step she took. 'I must be dripping with sweat.'

Sure enough, her shirt was already soaked through, and as they reached the tunnel to the outside, it started to cling against her skin in the most uncomfortable places.

She growled slightly and started to pluck at her shirt, trying to get some cool air in between wet clothe and pale skin. He stared at her, his eyes softening with amusement. She glared at him, daring him to say a word.

He had just opened his mouth when suddenly his eyes narrowed. With a slight shove, he gently pushed her back against the wall. He moved in front of her to the banister, staring down into the dark mass of emptiness that seemed to go on forever and ever, amen.

Only it wasn't empty.

As he unsheathed his sword, he told her quietly, "Keep running. No matter what happens. Just. Keep. Running."

The buzzing was so loud, so close, that she strained to hear his words. Already she could feel her head pounding with a migraine. She nodded. Nibbling her bottom lip, she tore off her indigo ribbon from her black hair and held it out with a trembling hand. He took it. 'This shouldn't be happening again.' He thought to himself angrily.

_My favorite blue ribbon. Take it._

_Take it? But what could-_

_JUST TAKE IT!_

_Fine! Yes ma'am!_

_But this is just a loan. You have to give it back._

It would do both of them no good if she stayed there, weaponless, and in danger. Silently, she inched slowly backwards. There was something worse than them coming.

She could feel it. With a reluctant glance behind her back, she started running.

Just keep running.

His muscles stayed tense, ready. Carefully he let his ki slither down the banister. They were being hunted, and he didn't like that at all.

With a slight intake of breath, he recoiled his ki quickly, glanced back to make sure that she wasn't visible anymore, and steeled himself. That ki was powerful, too powerful to be just one demon, but at least several very vicious ones. The amount of power their enemy had gained in a matter of minutes was frightening.

This was not going to be easy.

…

The slap of her shoes against the hard stone contrasted sharply with her uneven gasps for air. She kept her head down, running as fast as her already aching legs allowed her.

"Listen, girl!" she coached herself harshly, almost angrily. "Breath in through the nose… out through the mouth, in, out…" and slowly she began to pace herself. When the burning pain in her lessened somewhat and she decided she had run far enough, she stopped and leaned against the wall, panting heavily and watching the torch fire flicker against the stone. 'Probably could have run four times the distance I covered on a normal day,' she thought to herself grumpily.

The past twenty-four hours had taken a toll on her body, both mentally and physically. She didn't know how long it would take for her energy to be 100 again, or ever, but for now a small rest would suit her needs just fine.

…

She possessed a skill of walking on and through walls. The assassins that worked in the same station as her enjoyed watching her meditate, which often resulted in her sinking halfway through the ground. Her calm state of mind, honing her skills while locked safely away from everyone, often was interrupted by the snickers and whispers. These sessions often ended with her walking quickly away, face beet red from embarrassment as they stared at her with suppressed laughter.

She was a freak. Monster, and she knew that all too well. The outside world had shunned her after several very public accidents. She was here because nobody else would take her.

She had never been told off directly, but she could see it in their cold eyes and distant voices. It was their job to dispose of the different, the dangerous, and wasn't she one of them too? She tried to ignore them at first; she tried, but eventually she despised anyone who even glanced at her strangely.

Then he came one day, like a warm sun in a bitter storm. Apparently he had transferred to their station after his yearly examination showed that he was unfit for that cities' station. That was no problem here, though. Everyone was a veteran here and already so messed up that he would fit right in.

At first she disregarded him, but he was different. Many times he had defended her when people gossiped about her, even if she didn't know it. He completely ignored the swooning, flirtatious girls that often threw themselves all over him, politely telling off the ones that went too far.

Was that even possible?

He differed from the others in this way and in appearance, too. His flaming red hair stood out, red in a field of black. His eyes were just like hers, too. Her eyes changed from blue to sea green, a rather subtle change in her opinion, while his changed from violet to amber almost violently. In fact, whenever he was angry (which was few and far between) gold, fuming and cold, leaked into the corners of his pupils.

During the third time she immersed herself in meditating after his arrival, he started watching discreetly. He had offered help after watching her curse the air blue when she awoke to find the floor brushing against her chin. Reluctantly agreeing to his offer, they started training together, which was usually just meditating together. With his help and advice, she widened her skills, being able to identify and sense people from just their body heat to moving through all solid objects at will.

Working with him increased her ki level so much that soon, minor demons and imps, lured by the source of potential power, began targeting her. The two brushed the threats off, unworried by this advancement, and continued; only this time focusing more on concealing ki before any of the higher demons, the ones they really had to worry about, took notice of her power. But they had anticipated, waited, for too long, and their fears sneaked up and slapped them in their faces.

…

The mass of black flew up the stairs with startling speed, disintegrating the banisters of wood and metal as it traveled up the stairs. If one looked closely, they would sometimes be able to see flitting little black creatures separating from the swarm, buzzing angrily before being sucked back. Suddenly they skidded to an abrupt halt, uncertain. They paused, as if listening for something. Seconds later, in a renewed frenzy of speed, they charged up the stairs once more.

He frowned down into the inky expanse, sensing something more than what had followed them before. Heightening his senses tenfold, he could hear the buzzing coming towards him, but their seemed to be something else too.

Without at least some idea of what he was going against, the element of surprise would be with whatever was coming. Making an impromptu decision, he started weaving an energy net of sorts that would give him precious time for analyzing his opponent.

…

A screech of pure hatred and malice sounded from behind the swarm, rising in volume and pitch as it grew closer to them. They fruitlessly attempted to increase their already terrifying speed; hoping most could reach the top before it came. But with an angry swipe, the Thing sliced clear through them with a shriek of an unseen mouth and raced past them, intent on its prey.

The swarm, seemingly unfazed, sped after the Thing, only now multiplied into two separate smaller swarms. They pursued just at it's tail, gnashing away at whatever their tiny jaws caught hold of. Many times they accidentally killed their own kind instead of their enemy in the frenzy. She was their catch, and they would not give her up without a fight.

…

She stared in shock as the wall across from her started to twist and morph in a gruesome way, as if behind the wall a dog gnawed and ripped off massive chunks of stone with every bite while the stone fought back furiously.

'That's impossible,' she thought dazedly. 'We have to be at least five stories from the ground.'

Life working as an assassin told her instinctively to melt into the shadows, hiding from whatever caused this so it could reveal itself first. Yet she couldn't move, her feet somehow firmly rooted to the ground, refusing to budge to her desperate mental screams.

Her horror stricken eyes watched a claw burst through the weakening stone as mortar dust billowed everywhere. Chunks of stone flew everywhere and she shielded her face with an arm. Without thinking, she quickly grabbed her blade and stabbed the hand twice with all the strength she could muster. The arm withdrew. She drew up a copy of the broken wall that would hold for a bit, and she was left by herself, staring at her trembling hands covered with blood. This was not what she was meant to do, dammit!

…

The energy net he finished building above the stairs just seconds ago disintegrated with a slash of black claws and a shriek of triumph. Cackling with barely contained madness, its mad bloody eyes rolled in its sockets as he stared at it in disgust, hardly believing only a week before, temptation twisted his colleague into this.

The Thing's body, a warm bubbling mass of toxic sludge with no definite shape, oozed off in great blobs of black, dripping to the floor with a loud 'squelch', popping and rising steadily up and down until immersing itself into the ground, leaving an ugly dead looking spot in its wake. The only thing that didn't seem to melt away was the Thing's squinty red eyes and massive claws. They shone eerily and constantly snapped razor sharp jaws, ready to crush everything and anything under two powerful pincers.

Oozing on the banisters, it shook with what seemed to be laughter, but no sound came out. Instead, a buzzing sound rapidly came from underneath the Thing, rising to an unbearable screech as a wave of black surrounded The Thing in a ghastly cloak, biting shreds of the sludge in an attempt to destroy and absorb power. The Thing waved off a mob of the tiny furious things with a lazy wave of a claw, beady eyes still intent on him.

This swarm merely consisted of many lesser demons and imps that wished to be powerful, and in a futile effort to be a worthy opponent, melded together to create a faint imprint of an upper demon. The deafening buzzing they produced could shatter a person's eardrums and render him or her paralyzed within a five mile radius.

Lucky he wasn't human.

…

She winced and faltered, feeling the affect of the swarm on her. Even that break of concentration formed more cracks in her shields. Although she was human, her powers often caused others to mistake her for an upper demon, which could be true except for the minor setback of being mortal. Other than that, she possessed all the capabilities and then some.

Glancing back at the demolished stone wall that stood proudly only minutes ago, she let out a shuddering breath, feeling the pressure of the shimmering ki wall she made in its place pressing at the back of her head as she struggled to maintain the last defense she possessed.

Usually a demon could batter uselessly against her shields without even making a crack, but a horde of demons that one demon brought back exceeded even her abilities. With each thud, every pound, she and her wall grew weaker, both struggling to stay upright.

Leeching off her last pocket of energy, she forced more power into the walls, hoping the surplus of ki would ward off some of the less… _enthusiastic_… ones. No such luck though. In fact, this only seemed to egg them on, as though they knew that soon her walls would vanish.

As light grew smaller and darkness, creeping through cracks in her wall filled her vision, she closed her eyes, relenting to the weight of the ki wall. With a sigh, she slumped to the floor as her defenses shattered, thinking faintly over the roar of triumphant demons, '_He's going to kill me for this_.'

…

Sword and claw met with a spray of sparks before separating quickly. His arms rang with the vibrations of such a brutal impact, but the Thing showed no signs of aftershock.

He flew at it, sword raised, and in a slew of precise lunges, attacked from all sides. The Thing, too sluggish to defend himself properly, roared in irritation and annoyance as hissing splatters of sludge flew at every surface of the area, disappearing as swarms flew to them and absorbed the fleeting traces of power left in the bubbling drops.

He winced as several drops fell on his back. Instantly he wiped them away, well aware that each drop that landed on him held deadly amounts of poison.

Getting impatient, he made a lunge for its beady little eyes. That should've blinded it, except for the fact that it met the attack straight on, jaws opening in anticipation. Awkwardly, he had to shift away mid-air, crashing face-on into the hard ground. Moaning slightly in pain, he rolled over, only to find an outstretched claw speeding straight towards him.

He lurched to the side, narrowly avoiding it until the other pincer targeted him too, forcing him to roll over. He could have kept moving if not for being trapped between getting crushed and the wall. This time he was pinned him down, his arms and katana useless.

The Thing's face twisted into something that resembled a smirk. Somewhere in its sick mind, the thought of winning registered slowly. 'Kill. Destroy. Food. Prize.' It knew what these words meant. They were the only words he could remember, and as far as it was concerned, the only ones he needed to know. Freeing a pincer imbedded to the ground, the Thing aimed for his prize's skull and attacked.

He closed his eyes, waiting for the impact of death, but there was no pain. Cracking open his eyes, he found an outstretched claw centimeters away from his face. The other pincer had loosened the vice-like grip on him and he slid away slowly, watching carefully for a reaction before slipping away, keeping a wary hand on his sword.

The Thing had suddenly stopped, frozen, and at a startling rate began to sink into the ground, spreading an inky cloak onto the ground like a drop of paint on a wet piece of paper.

He watched at a considerable distance, wary of any possible attack without attempting to assault, circling around the sinking form before jumping lightly onto an old chandelier that creaked uneasily at his added weight.

The blotch, swirling slightly on the ground, fled in the direction she ran only minutes before. His eyes, widening with realization, darkened into deep amber. Silently, he cursed himself for his own stupidity as he jumped off the chandelier and pursued it.

The swarms intercepted his path abruptly, forming a barrier that blocked any ways of passing. With an angry growl, he charged through without even putting in the energy to make some sort of protection from their nipping jaws.

Infuriated, the swarm flew upon him, some still carrying little drops of acid in their jaws. They fell on unprotected skin, coaxing just enough pain to make him flinch for a short minute as he emerged from the swarm, covered with tiny scratches that healed quickly as he slid against a wall for support, panting heavily and treasuring the precious moment he had of peace.

He closed his eyes, thinking of her beautiful blue eyes that led him through darker nights. His throat tightened at the thought of losing the only thing worth living for, struggling to rise even as the last cut disappeared.

The constant healing in a short period took more stamina than running through his shishou's training course, but one thing he prided himself greatly on was endurance.

The next minute was single-minded sprinting, completely intent on his goal to worry about small things like pain and consequences. Those things weren't important right now.

Finally seeing her sparked mixed emotions. He was relieved to find her, shocked at the ugly bruising on her arms (when had they appeared?) but also furious at whatever was currently binding her, her legs already halfway into the ground.

With strong, purposeful strides, he walked toward her, fully intent on ripping apart the tendrils that dared to touch her.

A surge of ki abruptly exploded behind him, his eyes widening just as he twisted around and a huge black pincer came swinging towards him. Dodging swiftly to the left, he tried averting the claw but it snagged him on the side, ripping shirt and skin open to form a long, deep gash.

Fuck! Where did that speed he was so famed for go now? Red blood bloomed on his side like a rose as he cursed, spreading across his shirt as he crashed into the unrelenting wall.

In any other situation, he could have healed the wide wound in a blink of an eye, but this wasn't any other situation. Most of his energy was mere trickles now; nothing that could heal the gash that continued to bleed profusely.

Fighting to keep his eyes open, he watched powerlessly as the demons bound her with twisting ropes of smoke-like tentacles that held down her still body effortlessly. '_I was this close,'_ he thought with painful realization. _'I was this close to protecting her from her demons, but I failed her.'_

He watched her sink into the floor silently, even as he tried to get up and save her, let alone stay conscious. With an angry glance, he looked at the lump on her head, assessing the damage as he stumbled as fast as he could towards her vanishing figure. The demons had disappeared already, content that they secured their prize. '_No,_' he thought desperately, pounding weakly at the floor where she once lie. _'NO!'_

Before he collapsed into unconsciousness, he whispered softly under his breath, one word, one name, that had changed his life.

"Kaoru."

* * *

So does this count as an acceptable start at trying to make my chapters longer? The second one is already in progress. Please, bear with me while I try to figure out my stories. As you can probably see, Im still a noob at this stuff. Roar. 


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